New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-12-03
PRICE THREE CENTS
MURDERERS PLOTTO ESCAPE
DRlSCOLL AND LYONS WORKED TO BREAK
FROM THE TOMBS.
hEiCH SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE scHEME-TfIEy
SAWED PIECES FROM THEIR IRON BEDsTEhps
FOR WEAPONS AND LOOsENED THE IRON
PLATES OF THEIR WINDOW CASINOS
-DRIsCOLL TO BE HANGED

| terIay Evidence, clear and conclusive Lad
been found that Dan" Driscoll and DANNY
| Lyons both occupants of MurdererS' Row. ha6
planned to escape from their cells. The warden
and his assistants even went 70 far AS to declare
! that the attempt TO escape was to be made last
| night that two or three hours more work on the
part of the prisoners would have enabled them
to make the efclt, and that in all probability a
loss of life To faithful Night Warden Orr would
have resulted even if the endcavvr tC escape
had prc"cd failure, as it must have proved
according to the Warden. 1t was found that
Driscoll and Lyons had got possession Of a saw
or saws. had manufactured iron bars from their
beds. and had enlarged by several inches the
aertures to their windows overlooking the yard
of the prison and intending sooner or later
to make some kind of an effort to escape
| Warden Walsh sat in his gloomy little Office
in the northeast corner of the TOmbs last evening
and gave an account of his experience In front
OF him was what looked like pile of debris on
the floor The pile consisted of irregular. broken
pieces of cast iron half an inch thick. the pieces
ranging from three by four to four by five inches
in length and width They were fragments of
the iron plates which line the aperturcs to tho
| windows of the cells in Murderers' Row to prevens
| any enlargement of the openings. With these
| pieces lay a straight iron bar thirty-two inches
| long and an inch thick, and beside it another
twenty-six inches long and an inch and half
| thick, curled at the end for ugly possibilities.
| cotton hook eight inches long was a companion
| piece.
Those came from LyonS's CELL said tho
Warden scntcntousy. Two feet away lay another
iron bar twcnty-ni inches long and an iuch
| thick. Beside it, leaning against the wall was
| n triangular piece Of cast iron half an inch thick
two feet long and foot broad at its base Il
| found those in DriscOll's cell" the warden eX
| claimed, as he mOppcd his brow.
DRIscoLL SHOWS HIS CUNNING.
Then he got up held aloft piece of whita
muslin two feet square. and added: That shows
how cunning Driscoll was See the edges are
soapcd. He put that piece of cloth over the
place where 10 took out that piece of iron plate,
| and lie know how to make il stick The cloth
is about the color of the whitcwashed wall. and
aS the cell is not brilliantly illuminated DrstoI
knew that bis work could not be easily discovered
The Warden and added: Come, and
| I'll show yon the hcGstclls am how they made
the bars He led tie way to what might be
| called tie lumber room and showed two iron
hcdstads standing uron end. A continuous piece
Of cylindrical iron had formed the frame of each.
| Pieces had been cut from the foot part of each,
| however the ones which the warden had in hia
office.
You see Lyons more cunning than DriscolI,
the Warden, " for he cut his bar so that one end
came at the curve, and an ugly weapon it would
make. blow from that iron would end man in
short order" The bar weighs six pounds
| The Warden next led the ay through the great
hall of the building to the west entrance and
the yard 10 the prison proper, where keeper
acted as guide. There at the entrance to the inner
prison sat Night Warden Orr. Passing through
| double gates and then turning through third
gate TO the left the visitor reached Nurderers Row.
The first cell the left the ground floor is No g.
This had been occupied until 1890 a. H. by
Lyons, now awaiting appeal to the General
Term from his conviction for the murder of Joseph
+. Quinn The door unlocked, for Lyons had
been transferred to cell No. 10 The bed had been
taken from the cell.
HOW LYONS DID HIS WORK.
An examination of the window. high ND toward
the top of ;hc cell. showed how Lyons had worked.
He had cut the iron bar from the bedstead with a
saw and then, standing OH the water faucet in the
corner of the cell and almost under the window hs
had pried away at the iron plating. removing it
piece by piece. The aperture is three feet
deep and an iron bar an inch and half deep had
run through its centre, which is only six inches
high at the outside Of the wall The digging
had beon done at the right end of the window and
some three inches of stone and mortar besides tho
IRON plating had been pried away.
Drscoll had worked IN "A similar way i'll his cell.
He had pred off the tin plate. however. IN ono
large piece. having kept the evidence of the work
covered up with soaped cloth The wall was
hard and the digging had evidently been "tough
work. How could 1t have been done without at
tracing attention. Tnere was good deal
never entered the cell except when their
suspicious were aroused and Lyons and DriscolI
are keen aod subtle workers In cell No. T. between
that of LYONS and DriscoPs Adolph Reich wac
lodged. He il the murderer of his wife, whom ho
killed killed in L4dlow-.t He too Warden Var Walsh
escape, but finally gave it up
Back again III his office Warden
W@s v.Psaco nt on an o S. aav Of 6 biz s sSs
week. Some three weeks ago, he said, Drlscoll.
who had been In the Tombs since July. 1856, for
resort had shown himself particularly ugly: fox
that matter no was about the ugliest viless-
uIar occasion Drisco kicked what the linguistic
warden calls of tho "grub-carrlers" and did it
viciously that since then he hasnot been allowed
out of his cell for the usual parade.
THREE MEN USE THE SAME TACTICS.
On Tuesday last Driscoll began to find fault with
his food. Coffee and bread for breakfast and bread
aud tea for supper he roviled. At tho same time
Lyons aud Reichc began like mplaints They in
Weighed against what was offered them to eat and
kept it up persIstentIy. The warden says that
there was no ground for these complaints. as the
fare was good enough for the prisoners lie says
too now, that he began to be suspicious of all this
conduct on the part of the three murderers who
were all i'll a row. He had had Driscoll locked
perpetuay IN his cell for ugncss And. in the
light of events he now thinks that Reiche and
Lyons wanted to effect the same result in their
own cases. For what purpose' Simply to secure
opportunity to work at the bars and the
casing of their windows and at the
same time, tho more important thing, to
preclude calls from the keepers while the prisoners
.lss L. tnP 0 tba,r roalla ha
lar as 10 refuse to eat any food.
On Thursday, however Reich weakened" no
took to his breakfast again and then to his other
meals.
Warden Walsh says that he made up his mind
yesterday that when Drlscoll. who was to be taken
at 1920 a. 10 his sentence
should start on his way to the Court OF General